Justification:
This species has a very wide distribution in the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Although there is no evidence for any population declines, the species is commonly taken in the marine aquarium fish trade, and occasionally also for food. It is, however, well protected in MPAs within some parts of its area of distribution. This species is therefore listed as Least Concern globally.

This primarily tropical species is widely distributed throughout much of the Indo-West Pacific region, from the Red Sea and East Africa in the west to the Tuamotu Islands in the east, and from southern Japan in the north to northern Australia in the south (Lieske and Myers 1994).

This demersal species occurs in insular and coastal waters primarily around coral reefs, and particularly around seaward reef areas over mixed living coral, coral rubble, consolidated limestone and sand habitats. It may also occur over soft coral and sponge habitats (Randall 1972), and also in sheltered and back reef areas in northern Australia (Coleman 1981).

It is carnivorous, feeding mainly on benthic macro-invertebrates (Masuda and Allen 1993).

It has pronounced sexual colour dimorphism and is probably a protogynous hermaphrodite (Lieske and Myers 1994).

There are no known major threats to this species, though specimens are commonly captured for the marine aquarium fish trade (Edwards and Shepherd 1992, Wabnitz et al. 2003), particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines (Marine Aquarium Council 2004).